Currently retired, Mr. Dobre is a Romanian colonel who served the country during the communist regime. As Secretary of the communist youth organization, at the age of 17 he was forced to join the military school of officers, but "that was for the best", he says. While moving around the entire country he got promoted to lieutenant and later to colonel. Now, he’s looking back on his privileged past in the army. The film contrasts a controlling, disciplined past with the era of competitiveness.